Hemp Farmers Race The First Freeze

The view of the Spanish Peaks from the Hoehne Hemp Farm in Las Animas County before the cold weather hit.

Tracy Wahl
/ 91.5 KRCC

Originally published on October 10, 2019 1:13 pm

As temperatures plummet, some hemp farmers in Southern Colorado are worried about how the first freeze will affect a crop that is especially sensitive to cold.

At the Hoehne Hemp Farm in Las Animas County, farmers are working around the clock to harvest 80 acres of hemp. It’s their first year growing the crop.

Long time area farmer Joe Veltri leases them the land. "With all the money invested in the work, it’s a risky crop and I hope it don’t hurt them, this heavy frost," he said.

These plants are harvested for CBD, a popular pain treatment. It’s not clear just how many farmers are growing the crop in the region since numbers for the current year aren’t available.

Nick Spinosa is one of three partners at the Hoehne Hemp Farm.

"We’ve worked this hard for this," he said earlier this week. "This is the final stretch and we have to bring it home.”

Spinosa said there were more than 30 people harvesting the hemp to beat the freeze.

A freeze warning was in effect until 9:00 a.m. Thursday for Hoehne and most everywhere east of I-25. Temperatures Thursday night are expected to be well below freezing, as they were Wednesday night for many in Southern Colorado.